Fake Pokemon Go app spreads on Google Play to ruin your phone

A malicious Pokemon Go Ultimate, as first “lockscreen app” has been spreading on Google Play store, ESET software security company said.

The app when downloaded and run can’t be installed as Pokemon Go but as “PI Network”, report published in the Fortune.

Any users who ran the app would find their phone completely frozen, forcing them to restart the phone by removing the battery. Then after rebooting, the PI Network app seemed to disappear, but in fact still running in the background and generating fake ad clicks, as stated by Fortune.

The Pokemon Go mobile gaming app uses Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities of the device in relation with Google Maps to place virtual characters in real world locations, as one then tries to find using your device as your guide.

Once near to the placed creature, user then needs to use device’s camera to view the creature and try to capture it.

The software security company ESET also spotted several malicious apps including Install Pokemon Go and Guide & Cheats for Pokemon Go.

However, the app have been pulled off from Google Play store, ESET reported, and one can uninstall the app manually through user’s phone application manager.

The augmented-reality Pokemon Go gaming app is available on Google Playstore and Apple’s App Store in the US, Japan and Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Germany and is coming soon to India, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia.